3652....

So I like numbers.

You know how some people doodle on their papers when they're bored? I do too, but it often has to do with numbers. Not so much anymore, but I would even write my own math problems to solve. As a doodle. Oh, and I will often do math problems either in my head or on paper, even if it takes way longer than pulling out a calculator. Yeah. So that's me.

Anyway, so I thought it was only fitting that I share with you a few of my favorite numbers:

1: The number of times I've fallen in love.

2: The number of people in a marriage.

4: The number of kids I am fortunate to have.

5: The number of times I've moved since I got married.

6: The size of my family.

10: The number of years in a decade (and how many years I've been married!)

14: The number of years since we met.

3652: The number of days that I've been married to Rhoda.

12100: Days since I was born

30%: Percentage of my life I've been married and to my sweetheart

5392: Number of times I've screwed something up and yet Rhoda still finds it in her heart to forgive me. (OK, so I made up that number, but it's probably pretty close.)

And I think this is probably my favorite:
infinity: The number of years I can be with Rhoda. Forever. That's good, because I don't think anything less would be long enough.

I love her so much. She puts up with my procrastination, flakiness, my inability to make a quick decision. She listens to full-length versions of stories because I can't seem to figure out how to tell the Reader's Digest version. She supports me in everything I try to do. She has been a rock and anchor in turbulent times in my life. She is such a part of me and my life. She means everything to me. I wish I were better about showing it to her. She truly is 1 in 6.7 billion, and I can't believe the good fortune that has been mine to be married to her for the past decade.

Here's to many more.

Utah State Fair!

So we have made a tradition of going to the state fair EVERY year. Our kids absolutely love it. We usually make a big loop around the fair. There are a few must-see items on the list.

This is usually how it goes. First, to the The Amazing Butter Cow (Aunt Debbie does an amazing job on it every year!), and then up and around to Little Hands on the Farm. The kids love it. They get to feed and milk a (fake) cow. They get to plant a (fake) seed and pick the (fake) fruits and vegetables. They get to brush a (fake) sheep and a couple of other things too. At the end they get to pick a treat (a small bag of chips, a string cheese, a little thing of milk, and they have a few other things too). Anyway, then we almost always ride the big yellow slide. Not sure if Rusty will again. He said afterwords something to the effect: "That ride is not fun!" After that, we will usually then go ride a couple of other rides, and then walk through to see all the sheep, cows, pigs, and goats on our way out. I also thought I'd mention that I just about ALWAYS run into someone I know at the fair, which is kind of weird because it's such a big place and there are so many people there. Crazy.

Oh, and I think I'll take this opportunity to admit that I am a people-watcher. I find other people fascinating. Especially when they don't appear to be just normal, every day people. Don't you just wonder what some people are thinking (or maybe obviously NOT thinking) when they say something or dress a certain way? I know I do. Truth be told, the fair is a great place for people-watching. I'm not saying that EVERYONE that goes is totally abnormal. I mean, WE go (oh wait, that probably doesn't help my arguement). But there seems to be a very high percentage of the weird ones at the fair.

So as we went to the fair, I was looking forward to a bit of this people-watching, expecting some good entertainment (the state fair hasn't failed me yet in this department). Imagine my surprise, then, when the tables were turned and I occasionally caught people staring at ME when I walked by. I would think "You've got it backwards, buddy - I should be staring at YOU." At first, I was a little weirded out. Then I realized that they were trying to read what it said on my shirt before I passed them. HAHA! I was wearing one of my "funny" shirts. I love it. It reads, "I'm sorry, I can't hear you over the sound of how AWESOME I AM" (I love it cause it true, right? Cause I'm awesome like that, right? RIGHT?!). Yeah, so that's why they were staring. And maybe it was the shoes too.

Of course, so I wondered how many times other people have worn shirts with sayings on them that I stared at long enough to read, and wondering if people thought later "why was that weird guy staring at me?" Oh well. I'll have to watch that.

Anyway, we had a great time. It's fun to have traditions. And in keeping with that tradition, on the way home, just like always, the kids said "Goodbye Utah State Fair! See you next year!" Indeed.

Things That Make a Semi-Geeky Father Proud...

So I was thinking today that we are raising a whole passel of at least semi-geeky Crabbs.  Here are some examples:

Rusty has really started to like playing on the computer.

Wes gets a kick out of movie quotes. He thinks it's hilarious when ANYONE quotes a funny line from a show.

Mily loves to read. She just entered first grade, and she says that they tested her reading and apparently she tested at a 4th grade level! I walked past the front room just a few minutes ago, and out of all the things she could have been doing on a Saturday afternoon, there she was sitting in the chair, just reading away. And I'm told that she read for like 2½ hours yesterday!

 

Josh's favorite Wii game (for the last little while anyway) has been Lego Star Wars. Sometimes when I tell him about the movies, he can play the game better because he understands more of what he's supposed to do.  It's been a while since I've seen them all, so I'm thinking that we need to watch them together.

So I'm sorry, kids, but it looks like you've inherited at least some of your father's geekiness.  Hopefully people in Jr. High and High School don't hold it against you.

Different

Huh.

So I've had a pretty hectic week. And it's not over.

I knew at the beginning of the week it was going to be crazy. In all my work projects that I'm juggling, it's like they were all converging on deadlines pretty much all at the same time.

But here's the weird thing. Projects I expected to take a long time took relatively short time. Other projects I expected to knock out quickly took a lot longer than expected. There have even been a couple of unplanned/last minute things that I had to take care of, which I wasn't even factoring in when I was kind of planning out my week.

I guess you can never really know exactly how things are going to go.

I've still got all of Labor Day weekend to take care of some lingering stuff that's due after that. I even have most of the day after Labor Day. I took the day off to make a couple of scheduling things go easier with the fam. But I'll probably be working most of the day. I know. I took the day off so I could work. Haha. Funny.

Looking back, I probably shouldn't have had Rhoda pick that book up from the library. It's been at the house for almost a week now (thanks Rhoda!), and I haven't even picked it up. At this rate, it'll be due before I can even crack it open.

The good part? Man, I was able to finish up (or at least come REALLY close to finishing up) some lingering problems/projects that I've had sitting on my 'To Do' list for a while.

In fact, I think that so far this week I've actually crossed more things off my 'To Do' list than I added to it, so I call that a win.

Things to Smile About...

So earlier today, I saw on another blog a list of "10 Things to Smile About", and I thought it'd be especially appropriate, while in the hustle and bustle of a crazy week to really take a couple of minutes and make that list. So here goes:

1. Blogging at work (shhhh)
2. When my oldest son casually lets me know this morning that he can get his own breakfast ready if I want him to, while I know that the reason he’s offering is because Mom had a conversation with the kids about Dad’s crazy week, asking the kids to help out as much as they can, and he’s just trying to follow through with that.
3. That Mom even had a conversation with the kids about Dad’s crazy week, asking the kids to help out as much as they can, because Dad’s probably going to be gone even more than usual.
4. That while Mom was explaining about this crazy week to the kids, my daughter got that look. You know, when the eyes get big, and she starts to blink really fast, and you just know if it goes any further, there will be full on tears. And that you know that she’s not really upset about HER missing out on DAD time, but that she’s upset because she’s worried about ME missing out on KID time.
5. The look on my Kindergartner’s face when Mom asks “How’d you get that nose bleed? Did someone punch you in the nose?” See, I saw it happen. It was ‘self inflicted’. Time to clip that kid’s fingernails.
6. When my 2 year old wants to make sure that as I leave the house for work, I give everyone ‘kissies’. He didn’t see me kiss my daughter, and he wanted me to go back and make sure I took care of that.
7. One night, as I tucked my daughter into bed, she asked me if I would close her closet. I told her “No, but I’d be happy to CLAWS your CLOSE-it”, just to be weird. This became an almost nightly ritual. I guess she got tired of it, because she started saying “Can’t we just say CLOSE my CLOSET?” Of course, I replied, “Well YOU can say that, but I’m ALWAYS going to say CLAWS your CLOSE-it,” just to tease her a little bit. The other night, as I was tucking her in bed, she said “Dad, can you CLAWS my CLOSE-it?” Even though she didn’t really want to say it that way, she did because she thought I liked it better that way.
8. That I’m getting a screaming deal on a refinance when a month ago I thought I wouldn’t be able to refinance at all.
9. Making good enough progress on a project that I totally lose track of the time and stay up WAY later than I should. (Which I’m TOTALLY gonna regret tomorrow, but hey, I made lots of progress on my project!)
10. That I have more than I deserve. I mean, I have sooooo much to smile about. I have a wonderful wife, and 4 great kids. I have 2 jobs. Sure, my schedule’s crazy, but there are a lot of people who don’t have a job at all, and here I have 2. And neither of them is fast food or retail. I have a nice home, 2 nice cars, and the list goes on and on. I guess I’m just a lucky guy. And that makes me smile indeed.